


Sorry [Genesis x Reader]

by Knuddlmuffin



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, F/M, Reader-Insert, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:15:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24424864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knuddlmuffin/pseuds/Knuddlmuffin
Summary: As the new assistant of Dr Hollander you meet Genesis Rhapsodos and can't help falling for that ridiculously handsome and mysterious SOLDIER. However, with a man like he is, things tend to not go smoothly. As you spiral down into dark secrets you should have never uncovered, you're trying your hardest to stay afloat and achieve the best possible outcome.slight AU but mostly following canon - I changed some facts to fit the needs of the story※You've found my very first fanfiction! As I have always been intimidated by the enormous quality of works on this website, I've never deemed this story worthy. Now that I'm rewriting it (and maybe my English is finally good enough :P), however, I've decided to finally post it. This work was inspired by a short story that a lovely friend of mine wrote for me ages ago. So the idea for setting is not mine, I solely decided to expand on it, add an ungodly amount of drama and create this story. If she sees this: thank you for the inspiration! ♥
Relationships: Genesis Rhapsodos/Reader
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

Your heart beat fast in your chest. Was it because of nervousness? Excitement? Fear? Probably all of that. It was the first time you were in this kind of situation, after all. A complete change in your whole life lay ahead of you, the promising future you’ve always dreamed of experiencing hopefully already graspable.

The first steps had already been taken. Hours and hours of work had paid off, as now you could finally call this newly renovated flat, far away from your parents’ place, your own. This was a completely new start for you, here, where you only had your best friend Nora close by.

A smile graced your lips at the thought of her. The text she had just sent you, wishing you good luck for your first day, was a fine example of how much she cared about you and wanted you to succeed. You couldn’t wait to tell her about how wonderful your new work was going to be! You had to get through your first week, though, in order to see her.

After one last look in the mirror, one last check for your competent looking outfit and a deep breath you decided it was time to go. You did not want to be late on your first day, so you needed to be going soon. You grabbed a light jacket and your bag and headed out of your apartment to enter your car. It was old and used, but it always brought to your destination just fine, and was the present your parents had given you as a reward for your success. Since you had paid for your flat and all the renovations yourself, it was a welcome gesture, as all the money you had saved from odd jobs while you had been studying, was already gone. You sat in your car and took off.

On the way to the lab, the nervousness you had managed to swallow down until now started to arise again. That was understandable, though, since you were in fact the youngest scientist to ever enter Shinra. After graduating early, you had started to work on gene defects and correlated subjects with the help of competent scientists. Your dream of pursuing a career in this field had recently come true, since one of them knew and had suggested you to leading scientists in the Shinra company. The excitement in your stomach that had rushed you when you had gotten a letter for a job interview was still very evident.

Of course, you would only work as an assistant to Dr. Hollander, one of the scientists of Shinra, but you were confident enough in your abilities and knowledge to be sure of a promotion someday. You had to grin as you imagined yourself in your own office with many awards decorating the walls - your dream scenario.

To ease your nervousness - at least until you'd arrive - you turned up the music in your car and sang along until you arrived at the laboratory. 

※ 

Since you had been there already for your interview, it was not difficult for you to find your way through the enormous building. Soon enough - actually even ten minutes early - you stood in front of Dr. Hollanders office. After one last deep breath you finally knocked on the door.

As no one answered, you decided to wait the remaining ten minutes in front of the door. Maybe Dr. Hollander was not as punctual as you were. So you rested your back against the door and thought about what you hoped you were going to work at in the next hours. 

Suddenly the door you were leaning against opened to the inside. Since your balance got disrupted by the sudden lack of wood to lean against, you took a step back and tried to turn around, almost colliding with the person who had opened the door - accompanied by a not very graceful sound, similar to an 'Errrp'. 

"I'm so sorry, I thought there was no one in the office!", you frantically excused your sudden appearance in their personal space. 

As you finally had time to take in the appearance of the person, three things stood out to you. That it was a young man, probably slightly older than you, was the first thing you noticed. 

The second was the gorgeous blue of his eyes as you looked up into them. They seemed to captivate you immediately, as you had a hard time looking away. 

The third was the arrogant raise of his eyebrow and the annoyed sound he made as he looked you over.

Great, you were up to a really good start, it seemed. You took a step back to let him pass, but just in this moment, Dr. Hollander, who was in the back of the room, noticed you. Apparently, he actually was a punctual one, he was drowning in a huge pile of paperwork and looked like he has just stopped scribbling on a document when you had interrupted them.

"Finally, you're here! I've been drowning in work lately!"

The middle-aged scientist came forth to greet you, pushing the young man to the side rudely. He seemed eager and happy to see you, as he gestured you to enter the room.

"(Y/n) (l/n), was it? Good that you made it in time. Please come in."

"Good morning, Dr. Hollander," you greeted him and joined the two men in the office. A nervous smile was set on your lips, indicating that you were not fully comfortable with the situation.  
As you entered, the young man decided to leave and stepped through the door, but was called back by the scientist. 

"Genesis, why don't you stay for a second and greet her? She'll be working with you as well."

The man called Genesis stopped and turned around. You also faced him and took the chance to inspect him more closely. He was quite tall, had auburn hair and was dressed in the traditional SODIER uniform with a red coat.

He was extremely handsome, you had to admit that, but the way his body language signalled you his arrogance did not fuel an intense liking on your part.

"This is Dr. (l/n). Dr. (l/n), this is Genesis Rhapsodos," Dr. Hollander introduced you.

"When did I already earn the doctor title?" you asked yourself with a flattered blush appearing on your cheeks. This was a huge compliment to you.

"Pleasure to meet you", the young man finally spoke curtly. Said pleasure was not visible, since his face stayed stern and portrayed more of a complete lack of interest in you. Still, you had to admit that his voice was just as attractive as his appearance.

Before you could return the greeting, though, he had already closed the door behind him.

"Genesis is a busy man," Dr. Hollander excused his behaviour and you turned your attention away from the door back to the scientist again. "But you will see him again, since he is one of our most important research subjects."

"Oh, alright", you mused and followed the older man, who signalled you to follow him. 

※ 

The uneasiness that had built up in you thanks to the meeting with Genesis quickly decreased as Dr. Hollander presented you with your new workplace and introduced you to thousands of folders that you were to study the next weeks. Your pleasant anticipation returned as you and the scientist talked about your favourite topic: science, studies and genes.

After an hour of introducing you to your workplace in the back of his office, Dr Hollander left you to start working - with a permanent grin plastered to your face. This was what you were born to do, after all. Being lost in the documents, it took a lot of time before your thoughts wandered back to the young SOLDIER you had met before. The day rushed by a and suddenly the sun was already setting, it was quite late. You only noticed how much time had passed after you had finished working through the first few folders and a quick glance at the watch. With a polite 'see you tomorrow' to Dr. Hollander, you finally decided to go home.

On the car ride home, your thoughts went into the inevitable direction. Genesis was exactly your type, you thought as you drove through the city back to your apartment. But he was the kind of man that an attachment to often did not end very well. Good-looking guys like that always knew that they were exactly that, thus they tended to act like assholes. You knew that from experience, thanks to a failed relationship with another guy like, you had already suffered through what these men were like, so you decided to not be bothered by him. 

'I'm not going to fall for this man', you thought to yourself. 'But I can at least try to make friends with him, since I'm going to see him more often.'

And thus, you settled your demise.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, what way your first week like?"

Nora, your best friend, was sitting across from you in a small bar, interrogating you. She played with her glass of red wine, as she listened to you happily ranting about your new workplace and all the science and experiments you had already worked on. Nora was not bothered by your overly enthusiastic and never-ending speech, she even liked listening to you talking about your favourite topics.

You described your small 'office' to her as if it were at treasure chamber, you told her about all the folders you had already gone through, the new knowledge you had already gained and all the achievements you had reached so far. And, of course, you told her about Genesis.

You had met him twice in the hallway since your first day. The first meeting had taken place on Tuesday, along with his friend Angeal Hewley, about whom Dr Hollander told you that he would be another research subject of yours. Even though Genesis had at least greeted you, it had however been spoken in such a brusque way, it had made you feel like you were not worth his time. Angeal had been a lot friendlier. He was a well-built, tall, dark haired man with a genuine smile, who actually seemed to care about your existence. Just like Genesis, he had worn a SOLDIER uniform, indicating he had a similar rank to the former. His different demeanor struck you as very likeable.

The second time you saw him Genesis was alone and didn't even deign to spare you a second glance. It upset you quite a bit, you hadn't done anything to him, and you were to work with him, if what Dr. Hollander had said was correct. In your opinion, working towards at least a little bit of friendly atmosphere was not too much to ask! He apparently didn't notice your anger-filled glare at his back, as he passed you without comment.

Later that week you had also learned that Genesis and Angeal were SOLDIERS first class, which in turn made them both quite famous and well-liked by the public. They even had fan clubs. With this new information, it became clear to you why Genesis was so arrogant.

"What, you didn't know?" Nora gasped as you told her the news. "They're really famous, and Sephiroth too!"

As she told you what she - and apparently everyone - knew about those three, you noticed how deep in your scientific bubble you had been.

"And those eyes..." Nora continued, swooning. Apparently, she had also fallen victim to the charms of them.

"They're like that because of the mako infusion," you informed her, glad that you could take part in the conversation again. "All SOLDIERS have to get infused with mako energy, to make them stronger."

"Well, I wouldn't even care if they wore contact lenses. Still gorgeous! You should introduce me to them!" Nora winked at you and you laughed. 

"Hm... Angeal seemed pretty nice, so go get him, girl!" you told her, winking back and pushing your elbow into her side.

"And which one will you take? Sephiroth or Genesis?"

"Definitely not Genesis!" You shook your head at the stupidity of this scenario.

The two of you continued talking and having fun until the barkeeper decided to throw you out and close. Like most nights, you were some of the last people left, having completely forgotten time over your conversations.

"Thanks for that. I really needed that talk!" You hugged Nora goodbye.

"I'm always there for you. Have fun with Genesis next week!"

"Pfff..."

Nora knew you too well, she could already tell that you were fascinated with him. But that was what a best friend was for, knowing how you felt before even you did, and encouraging you to embrace your feelings. You waved to her and went on your way home. 

※

On Monday morning, as you arrived at the office with a huge pile of paperwork in your arms, Genesis was already waiting. He was leaning on the wall next to the door, arms crossed and eyes closed. If you could trust your skill to read people, you'd say he wasn't as calm as his exterior made him seem to be. Was something making him uncomfortable? Just like you had expected, he didn't react at all when you came strolling down the hallway. You were not one to lower yourself to his level, so you decided to just address him.

"Good morning, Mr. Rhapsodos," you greeted him with a polite smile, then turned to open the door.

"Good morning. It's closed. Dr Hollander isn't here yet," he told you as you unsuccessfully pulled on the handle.

"He's late?" you asked, unbelieving. The doctor hadn't struck you as being sloppy about his work. In contrary, you had even noticed a lot of dedication to it because of a rivalry with another scientist in Shinra company.

"No, he's preparing for my examination."

"Oh, alright."

You decided that nothing but waiting could be done, as you hadn't gotten a spare key yet. To ease the weight of the documents, you too leaned on the wall, on the other side of the door frame. You tried to stop yourself from sheepishly glancing over to the SOLDIER, but to no avail. he still hadn't moved. 

An uneasy silence arose.

'I should say something,' you thought, the awkwardness of the situation made you nervous. 'Since I'd like to get to know him.'

You combed through your head to find something to talk about. Just as you had decided to ask him about his weekend, he took that opportunity from you and asked something himself.

"What exactly is your job here? What are you doing for Dr. Hollander?"

The question took you by surprise. Was he suddenly interested in you? No, probably he only wanted to know since part of your job would concern him in the future. Either way, you were pretty sure you sensed some kind of uneasiness in his voice, even though he tried to mask it. 

"At the moment, I'm only doing what Dr. Hollander tells me to, I don't have enough experience yet... Mostly I just work through documents to increase my knowledge so I can be useful to him. But when I'm ready, I'll surely be allowed to take part and even lead some important experiments!"

Your growing enthusiasm for scientific topics was interrupted by Dr. Hollander, who had just turned around the corner and wished both of you a good morning upon seeing you.

"Now, let's get started, shall we?" he asked as he opened the door to let you in.

You nodded eagerly and followed him inside. He continued through the room and turned to the door that connected his office to his laboratory, but as he noticed you still following him, he stopped you.

"Dr. (l/n), please continue with your work, it's still too early for you to participate in Genesis' examination. Starting next week you can join us."

"Alright." Your shoulder sank a bit, and you turned to your desk to put down the pile of paperwork. Wordlessly Genesis passed you and followed the scientist into the connected room. You sighed, but quickly forgot about your disappointment and continued working on what you had left on Friday.

※

After about an hour of being consumed by your work, the door to the laboratory opened again and a very pleased looking Dr. Hollander came out, followed by Genesis who did not quite seem to share his state of mind. His gaze had darkened, he was walking slowly and kind of shiftless. You sensed that something was not right, that he was weak. 

"Mr. Rhapsodos, are you alright?", you asked him.

As if he had only noticed your presence by then, he straightened his back and growled a quick 'Yes' before walking out of the office in his usual stance, ignoring Dr. Hollander's goodbye. 

"What is the matter with him?" you asked, slightly concerned. You were not convinced by Genesis' answer at all, his pride would probably never allow him to admit to being unwell. 

"I actually wanted to talk to you about him next week, but since you asked... Genesis is getting a Mako energy infusion, and subjects tend to feel a little weak after that procedure," he answered your question, as if talking about the weather. 

"But hasn't he already had this infusion?" 

"Yes, he did, but since he is kind of ... special, I decided to test if continuous infusions would improve his performance even further. Since he still has to go on his missions, however, I decided to give him only small injections over the course of a few weeks. Like this, he should be fine again in a few hours and ready for combat."

You did not respond to that explanation, simply nodded and continued with your work. Somehow, it didn't seem like Dr. Hollander was very concerned about Genesis. Then again, he knew his charge and he knew what he was doing, and the SOLDIER hadn't seemed to protest, so surely, it was alright. 

※

The rest of your week was quite uneventful and soon enough, Friday came around. You had about two hours left before you could go home. Truth to be told, you were looking forward to the weekend. Even though you loved your work and the things you did here, it still was a job, so it was quite exhausting. Nora and a glass of wine were already occupying your mind, so when the door to the office opened, you were glad for the little bit of distraction that you were hoping would come. Your saviour turned out to be Angeal, who needed something from Dr. Hollander.

"You look tired, Dr. (l/n)," he noted with a friendly smile. 

"Oh, you've done a lot of good work this week, you can leave for the weekend, if you'd like," Dr. Hollander offered.

Torn between the need for leisure and the desire to finish what you were working on, you hesitated.

"Go on, it's alright, you can finish on Monday!"

Those were the last words of encouragement you needed. You quickly put your stuff together, thanked the scientist and followed Angeal out of the office.

"Is your week over as well?" you asked him, curious of a SOLDIER's line of work. You found it to be a lot easier to talk to him than to Genesis.

"No, it doesn't work that way for us," Angeal laughed. "We don't have weekends like you do. I have a mission to go on tomorrow. For today I'm off, I'll go train a bit, though."

"Where are you training? On a field?" you asked.

"Has nobody ever showed you around here? We have simulation rooms for that."

"What, really? Simulations? How do they work? Can I see them?" Enthusiastically you began pestering Angeal with scientific questions. After he couldn't answer any of them, you relented. "Sorry for that. And no, nobody has shown me around yet. I actually only know the way to the laboratory."

"Well then, if you'd like I can show you around a bit. At least on the way to the simulation rooms. And if you want to, you can watch the training as well, maybe it'll answer some of your questions."

Without hesitation you agreed excitedly and followed Angeal.

As you arrived at the training rooms, you immediately found the man who ran the simulations, whom you took hostage and forced to explain everything to you. The poor guy, who seemingly didn't know about the technology all too well, tried his best to explain to you what he knew. You were not really satisfied with his description, but your attention was turned away from him anyway as Angeal entered the simulation room, followed by Genesis.


	3. Chapter 3

Fighting had never interested you, it had never fascinated or had seemed heroic to you. The idea of idealizing a fighter or soldier had never even occurred to you, though you knew quite a lot of people who did so. You knew it was inevitable for some people to fight - to keep the inhabited areas safe - but it had still always been too gruesome for you to like the idea of. So you tended to just ignore the fact.

But as you watched the fight between Genesis and Angeal, you were fascinated. You wouldn't say it was beautiful, that was against your principles, but the fast, defined and fluent movements of both SOLDIERs were quite impressive. You felt the clashes of their sword resonate within your body, even standing outside of the room. In that moment, you realized what it meant to be a SOLDIER first class. Even not being familiar with fighting, you could tell whether one was skilled or not. And you had never seen anyone fight like that. Both of them were unbelievably skilled and strong.

You found yourself watching primarily Genesis. He was so strong, fast and elegant, fighting with such concentration and precision, it nearly intimidated you. But for the first time in your life, you felt the wish to be able to move and fight like that.

He certainly had to work hard to maintain this level of skill, even if you were not too fond of his personality, you had to admit that he was doing his best to succeed in his chosen field of work. And he had your respect for that. He was one of the people who protected you so you could live in peace, without much worry for your safety. And with the strength he possessed, it would be so easy for him to defeat anybody. Whoever's side he was on would never have to feel unprotected. You felt a flutter in your stomach as that thought crossed your mind, but you did your best to not pay any mind to it.

After a few more clashes of their swords, the fight had ended and Genesis exited the simulation room, followed by Angeal. You took a step towards them. The deep admiration that had suddenly grown in you wanted to be voiced, so you decided to talk to them.

"I've never seen anyone fight like that!" you told them. "That was amazing! I didn't know you were this skilled!"

Angeal nodded at you with a grin, proud to hear your praise. Genesis seemed surprised to see you there, he had probably expected you to be not interested in anything else than your scientific work - which actually had been the case until you had seen the fight.

"Tch, what did you expect from a SOLDIER first class?" He had a smug look on his face as he commented on your exclamation, with disapproval for you lack of knowledge evident. That took you aback. You were about to say something about him being too prideful, but Angeal, who seemed to notice that you were irritated by his arrogant reply, decided to save the situation.

"Thank you, (y/n)!" He grinned at you.

"I know that SOLDIERs first class are extraordinarily strong, but still I was impressed," you said after you had calmed yourself down. You couldn't stop a snarky comment from exiting your mouth, though "Mr. Rhapsodos, you should learn how to take a compliment."

"Compliments on my fighting by someone who has not even the slightest idea of combat are not very flattering, are they?"

"Well, in my opinion, a compliment is defined through the intention!" You started to get angry again.

"Still, it's worth more if whoever provides you with a compliment knows what they are talking about."

"I know what I am talking about!"

"Now, now..." Angeal tried to calm both of you down, which did not really work. You were so riled up that you just cut through his comment and continued berating Genesis for his unnecessarily mean comments.

"I don't need to be a combat expert, I have enough common sense to be able to tell if someone's fighting is good or bad! I -"

"It does not matter," Genesis interrupted you. "I know how skilled I am even without a scientist apprentice telling me."

"What the hell is your problem?" you asked him. By now, every admiration you had felt during the battle was gone. He was an ass. You should have known from the beginning on, that this person was not worth your time and energy.

'Listen, assistant," he sighed, the moved closer to you, tower over you and intimidating you a bit - because you had just seen what he was capable of. "You might think you have to befriend me, solely because we are going to be working together for one hour weekly. I am not interested in that. Our contact is purely professional. Focus on your work, and I'll focus on mine. I have no time for anything else. And frankly, I'm not interested."

He stopped staring you down and turned around, and you let your breath you had unknowingly held flow out of your lungs.

"I have to prepare for a mission," Genesis stated, more towards Angeal that to you. "I will see you next week."

With a nod he left, leaving you with Angeal. You were stumped at his behaviour.

"Is he always like this?", you asked the other SOLDIER, even though you though you knew the answer already.

"Genesis might seem a bit cold, but if you get to know him better, it turns out he cares a lot about his friends" Angeal answered. "Though, you might be at a disadvantage a bit. Scientists are not his favourite people."

"I noticed," you grumbled and Angeal laughed.

"Don't take it personally," he advised you and lay a hand on your shoulder. "I don't think he dislikes you as a person, but more what you represent."

"I wonder if I ever get to the point of conversing with him like a normal person..." you mumbled, and even though Angeal heard you, he chose to stay silent.

"Anyway, thanks for inviting me to watch you practice." Cheerfully you thanked Angeal, ending the short silence. "I'm going home now, I'm more than ready for the weekend!"

As you exited the building, you tried your best to leave the thought of the unpleasant encounter with Genesis behind.

Your resolve didn't last long, on your way home, thoughts about Genesis were roaming in your mind again. You tried to focus on the more peasant parts at least, and focused on the training session you had witnessed. While watching, you had been so mesmerized by the movements, it didn't seem unnatural to you how skilled the two of them actually were. Thinking back, the performance had been quite unusual for a normal human being. Most of their movements shouldn't even have been possible, in a scientific point of view. Genesis and Angeal were just too fast and too strong. Did the Mako infusion really enhance their performance that greatly? Your interest was piqued, and you decided to look into this more next week. You remembered that Dr. Hollander had offered you to help with Genesis' examination on Monday. Now you were curious and looking forward to it. What kind of human, what kind of body would be needed to put on such a performance?

As you entered your parking lot you decided to not focus on your work anymore and to finally get ready for the weekend - and for Nora.

※

The good intentions lasted until Saturday night. You kept your mind away from work, with the help of your best friend. Nora always seemed to sense when it was best to not talk about something. She did her best to keep you distracted by abducting you into your favourite bar and telling you about her failed date.

"We sat there in silence for an eternity!" she sighed while playing with her glass. "Ok, I guess it were only about two minutes, but do you know how long two minutes can be if there's an awkward silence?"

You laughed, relating to her, as you had also had your share of failed dates. You didn't care about yourself so much, but Nora definitely deserved a loving boyfriend. That's why you were always on the lookout for handsome and hopefully nice guys whenever you were in town with her - so much that Nora had once jokingly asked if she needed to buy you binoculars. Today was no different, and you had a look around.

As you scanned the bar, you noticed a young man with spikey red hair. He seemed familiar, but you couldn't pinpoint where you had seen him before.

Your intense staring resulted in him noticing you and turning around. He said something to his friend, a dark-skinned bald guy, then jumped off the bar stool and strolled over to the table you shared with Nora.

"Hiya, cutie," he greeted you. "My name's Reno. I couldn't help but notice you staring at me, have we met somewhere before?"

"What a cheesy pick-up line", Nora laughed.

"Yeah, you need to come up with something better!" you agreed.

"Ok, ok, let me try again." Reno turned away, and then faced you again. "Do you know the weight of an ice bear?"

"What?" you asked him, confused by this sudden, unrelated question.

"Enough to break the ice! Hey, my name is Reno!" He extended a hand to you and you took it, grinning at his stupid joke.

"Nice to meet you, my name is (y/n), and this is the wonderful and lovely Nora!" you retorted. "But to answer your first question, I think I actually have seen you before."

After you had introduced yourself, it did not take you long to find out that he was part of the Turks und you two had probably seen each other in the scientific research department. After a while of making jokes and getting to know each other a bit, Reno waved his friend over and introduced him as his partner, Rude. The two of them were easy to talk to, so you had a very good time. So good, in fact, that the time passed quickly and soon enough the barkeeper had to throw you out, as he wanted to close the bar und you four were the last customers. Reluctantly, you paid - or at least tried to, Reno didn't want to split the bill and covered all the drinks.

In front of the bar you said goodbye to Nora and the two new friends you had just made. Before you could leave, though, Reno stopped you.

"I had a very nice time, I hope I'll see you again soon."

"Me too!" you answered truthfully. "We're at this bar almost every Saturday."

"Alright, then I'll see you next week! At least if we don't run into each other at work!" He waved and left.

It was obvious that Reno liked you, you thought while walking home. You liked him too, he was a nice guy with a good sense of humour. Maybe, you would grow to like him even more. Maybe, something could develop between the two of you. Certainly, you were looking forward to next week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, Genesis is an ass, but he will get better at some point, I promise! :'D  
> Thanks for all the love so far!


End file.
